The invention relates to an improved foot pedal for a drum, and particularly to the swinging member on which the drum beater swings.
A foot pedal for a drum is ordinarily linked to a swinging member, such as a sprocket, that rotates integrally with the drum beater. The link connection is by means of a linking member, such as a chain, strap, etc. When the foot pedal is stepped on, the swinging member rotates to cause the beater to beat the drum head.
The shapes of known swinging members can be generally classified into two major categories. One is a generally round wheel where the rotary shaft of the beater and the center of the pitch circle of the rotary sprocket are the same. An example of this is shown in FIG. 10. It includes a foot pedal device 100 having a pedal plate 101. A swinging member 103 includes a peripheral sprocket 104. A flexible linking member 105 is wrapped on and engages the sprocket. A beater 106 is carried on a beater rotary shaft 107. Rotation of the member 103 swings the shaft 107 to strike a drum head 108. A hoop clamp 109 holds the pedal to the drum.
As is shown in FIG. 11, the ratio between the step-in height of the free swinging tip of the pedal plate 101 and the rotary distance of the beater rotary shaft 107 remains constant during use of the swinging member 103. As a consequence, the step-in speed of the pedal plate 101 and the beating speed of the beater 106 are in proportion to each other. Because of this, the operating feeling remains mild, without any peculiar idiosyncracy, and many performers like that. The only way to increase the beating speed of the beater 106 is to increase the step-in speed of the pedal plate 101. This may cause the performer to become greatly fatigued.
Another swinging member is normally in the form of an eccentric wheel. An example is shown in Japanese Utility Model Publication Sho 63-33262 and is shown in FIG. 12 of this specification. A beater rotary shaft 117 is positioned to the rear of the center of the pitch circle of the sprocket 114 of the swinging member 113. As the pedal plate 111 of the device 110 is stepped on, the distance between the beater rotary shaft 117 and the sprocket 114 gradually decreases. The same reference numbers as in FIG. 10 indicate the same elements.
As can be understood from FIG. 13, the rotary angle of the beater as compared with the step-in depth of the pedal plate increases in an accelerating fashion, which increases the beating speed of the beater. This enables the performer to increase the beating speed of the beater easily even while employing the same beating speed. As a result, the drum head can be beaten more strongly. However, the accelerated feeling of the stepping foot of the performer and the accelerated state of the beater due to the rotation of the swinging wheel are different using such an eccentric wheel, with a consequence that the performer will have to acquire skill in this operation. Thus, it may be difficult to acquire a satisfactory operational feeling in this respect.